Messing Around

Whilst Nick is working very hard and driving all over the city every day I am enjoying the daily school runs and finding new things to do with Alex and Edward. Already our days are very busy. There is a playgroup every day in Coogee and Randwick so on Mondays we go to a church playgroup near the sea. It is incredibly well run by lovely ladies who volunteer. You pay a little bit more per child to go in but all the toys are laid out, there is a baby room and cars and ride on toys, a sand pit, all the coffee you want to drink. The kids can paint or do play dough and Alex loves it. The best bit is at the end when all the ladies get the children singing church songs and dance and clap!. It has been a fantastic way to meet other Mums and everyone is so friendly!! They even sent me a post card after my first visit encouraging me to come on Sundays. Here is Al getting stuck into painting. I have met a french lady Marion, from Quebec, who is over studying with her husband and son for two years and she has started to teach Oliver some french and if Nick and I can find the time we are going to have some lessons too. She has a little son, Romain, who is the same age as Alex. Unfortunately he only likes girls and so he has struggled a bit with Alex who wants to be friendly with everyone.

Oliver has also started tennis and has an incredible teacher called Julie who he is just desperate to impress. He now asks everyday if he can have a tennis lesson. Primarily just so he gets another hour with this lady. She is so full of praise for everything he does. In just a few weeks he has learnt how to catch, something I have been trying to do for years and he can now return a ball forehand and backhand with his racket. Check out the concentration on the little guys face and the tongue hanging out!. I have also started having lessons down on the beach courts. They run a mothers group on Thursdays and have a little creche on site and so for two hours of the week I am childless. It is fabulous. I have never played before and am worse than terrible but am having a great time.

Olivers behaviour has improved so much since he has started school again. Mind you I have found some excellent punishments that keep the naughtiness away. Here he is changing a poopy nappy, an experience no one would wish to repeat, forget the naughty step, this is the way forward girls!

The other thing that Nick and I are trying out is sushi. There is so much fresh fish and Japanese in Sydney that there are sushi bars everywhere. I always thought that Sushi was tiny bits of raw fish on top of rice. ( I quite like this sort) Well Nick went and got ?sushimi? the other night and came back with platters of sliced raw fish for our supper. Well I already had the wok heating up ready to cook the stuff. Ollie, however, embraced the concept and dug in. He loved it. We didnt however emphasise the raw!!. The swordfish was ok but it was just all to big and cold and uncooked for me. I will have to keep trying I guess.